KARACHI: Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that the provincial government will file an appeal in the apex court against the Sindh High Court decision under the provision of the Delimitation and Constituencies Act, 1974.

In pursuance of the decision, the Election Commission of Pakistan had issued instructions to the Provincial Election Commission and the Sindh government for making changes in the list of certain existing constituencies in which rural areas were made part of urban union councils and carry out adjustment within five days.

The minister, who was speaking as a guest speaker at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, said that the high court decision created confusion.

“We were waiting for our legal brain, Farooq H. Naek, who was out of the country. Now as he has come back, we will file an appeal,” he said. The purpose of the appeal was to remove the confusion, he claimed.

He said all the delimitations were worked out by the election commission itself and through the appeal the government wanted to get the verdict of the high court struck down as its implementation needed to seek re-nomination by the aspiring candidates which could delay the local government elections.

He said the Sindh government was keen to hold LG polls as they had been pending for quite long. In order to avoid further delay, the government was going to file an appeal in the Supreme Court instead of filing a review petition in the high court.

He said that the Sindh government was in favour of initiating action against those indulging in corruption but the provincial government contention was that only competent authority should take action.

In recent past, he said, only Sindh was targeted for certain actions as if corruption was rampant just in Sindh and not in other parts of the country.

About the controversial ad in newspapers, he said it was a conspiracy and anyone found involved in the conspiracy would be taken to task.

About ghost employees, he said over 200 ghost employees were removed and further being screened and after completion of all legal formalities, they would be shown the door.

When his attention was drawn towards the emerging alliance of the opposition parties in Sindh against the Pakistan Peoples Party, the minister said it was not for the first time, such alliances used to be formed against the PPP in the past also. It was for this reason that the party was not very much concerned about the alliances, he added.

He said those hurling charges against the PPP and its government about pre-poll rigging should recall how they conducted the 2005 elections when they had been in power. In fact, he added, there were reports that PPP candidates as well as their proposers and seconders were being kidnapped.

In reply to another question, he said that a cleanliness drive in entire Sindh, Karachi in particular, was a challenge. He said he had held many meetings and issued warnings to the officials concerned that resulted in some improvement in their performance but he was yet not satisfied. However, he gave assurance that after some time they would found visible improvement in the city cleanliness as the responsibility of carrying out city clean was being outsourced soon.

The local government minister, who also holds the rural development portfolio, said that the supply of drinking water was another serious problem that despite the closure of 190 hydrants had not been solved so far, as some hydrant operators had gone to the court and got stay order.

He said work on the first phase of K-IV water project had already been initiated while negotiations were being held with the World Bank to get soft loan for initiating process on its second phase, too, without waiting for completion of the first phase.

He assured KPC office-bearers of his support in sorting out all pending issues about plots and grants of the government to the club.

Earlier, KPC President Fazil Jameeli and other office-bearers presented Ajrak and a bouquet to the guest while KPC Secretary Alauddin Khanzada welcomed the guest speaker.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play